


you’re my permanent vacation

by halfshook



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Fluff, High School AU, M/M, i love commas and brackets a lot i’m sorry, i swear this is a markhyuck fic, nct go to england bc sm will never send them here, other nct members mentioned more briefly, school exchange trip, supposed to be minor chensung, supposed to be minor norenmin
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-29
Updated: 2019-02-25
Packaged: 2019-07-18 20:45:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16126400
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/halfshook/pseuds/halfshook
Summary: School trips were always an experience, never mind exchange trips with cute boys and a foreign language to worry about.[MARKHYUCK]





	1. day zero

A ten day trip with practically a bunch of strangers, in a foreign country along with two teachers who had never taught him was almost guaranteed fun.

You see, Donghyuck had originally signed up for the exchange programme as a joke.

When his mum read out the email from the school about an exchange programme with their sister school in England and asked if he wanted to get involved, he laughed and said _sure why not_.

He hadn't expected to fall in love during the trip. And he most certainly did not expect to fall in love with Mark Lee of all people.

Just under a year ago he had helped out when their sister school students came to visit. He helped them out with classes they attended, went on all the day trips that were offered, and stayed after school for all the extra curricular activities. He'd been considered a vital asset to the exchange programme and was asked to visit England the following summer, along with seventeen other students who were deemed vitally important as part of the exchange.

 

_6 a.m. KST June 14th 2018_

Fast forward a year and now he was in the airport with his best friend Renjun, two teachers, and sixteen other students. Eight of the students he had never spoken to before so he was a tad anxious about the prospect of having to talk to them all. The six students (minus Renjun) that he did know were all his age but he had hardly spoken to any one of them more than a handful of times. It was sure shaping up to be a fun trip.

"Please tell me you're nervous too," Donghyuck asked Renjun, trying to hide his own nervousness despite his heart racing and his palms becoming sweaty.

"Donghyuck. It's just security. You're going to be alright. What's the worse than could happen, you get body searched?" Renjun replied dryly.

Donghyuck was not a fan of airports or planes or just flying in general but he had made a commitment to the programme and he planned to carry it out to the very end. In spite of this, the bright lights and the loud noises were not his friend at six a.m. on a monday morning.

(They weren't anyone's friends.  
He'd seen half the group whip out coffee flasks the second they sat down on the bus that was to take them to the airport).

Security specifically made Donghyuck incredibly anxious and Renjun's comments were not helping.

On top of all his other concerns he was also one of the youngest students on the trip which made him unusually nervous. Way more than he typically was. Donghyuck wasn't a nervous person but this trip was, so far, bringing out his worse qualities, he remained optimistic regardless of this.

He'd made a few comments here and there so far to the majority of the group to gauge the type of reactions he would receive and so far, they'd been positive. A couple of the others boys had laughed and a couple others had added onto his comments. Overall he was confident that despite being the fourth youngest out of eighteen people, he wasn't going to be ridiculed. He thought he would be at the very least, okay.

Regardless, Renjun had jinxed him. He had ended up being full body searched and was livid about it. As soon as he picked up his bag, he marched right over to Renjun and borderline had a nervous breakdown about how much he hated airports whilst clinging on to the older boy. A few of the other boys, who had also been full body searched, gave him pitying looks. They understood it.

Donghyuck linked his arm with Renjun, "Please don't leave me from this point on. I will have a breakdown. And I am _not_ kidding this time."

"Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere, besides what are best friends for if not for using this for blackmail at a later date," Renjun responsed smugly, seemingly proud of himself for that comment. Donghyuck lightly whacked the other's arm and huffed.

Once everyone had gotten through security (which had taken a while, there were twenty of them after all) the teachers had called them all together and told them they had about two hours to kill before they could board the aircraft. They were also informed that they had to be in groups of at least three to walk around by themselves and at that point Donghyuck's face paled.

"This will be a chance for you guys to all get to know each other a little better, so get into groups and meet us back here in two hours exactly," the other teacher added on the first one's statements.

Whilst Donghyuck began to scan the group of boys on the trip, in hope of finding the least intimidating boys to group with, Renjun had already found a pair and was dragging Donghyuck along after him, by the sleeve of his hoodie, to meet them.

The two boys, one with light green hair that Donghyuck was seriously tryinh to figure out how he'd gotten away with it because of their strict uniform policy the school had established a few years back and the other, blonde, were some of the boys who had laughed at his jokes and that make him smile. Renjun had good taste.

"Hi! I'm Chenle and this is my best friend Jisung. We're in the year below you...I think," the green haired boy had said while pointing to the blonde boy next to him.

"Yeah, as Chenle said I'm Jisung. It's nice to meet you guys."

The pair seemed kind and Donghyuck was much less apprehensive than he previously was. Even if the remaining members of the group were major dicks, at least he most likely had these two, along with Renjun.

"Hey, I'm Renjun! And this is my best friend, Donghyuck. It's nice to meet you guys too."

"I'm Lee Donghyuck, as Renjun mentioned, the one and only. I hope we all get along, it'll be nice to have others to talk to," Donghyuck added.

The four of them started to walk towards duty free when someone from the the rest of the group yelled from behind them. Prompting them all to turn and look, only to see three boys chasing after them.

"Hey, wait up, please! Thanks, hi I'm Mark and these are my friends Jaemin and Jeno," Mark half yelled, kind of breathlessly, whilst gesturing towards a pink haired boy and platinum blonde haired boy respectively. The two boys smiled and greeted the four of them.

"We just thought it would be a good idea if we all went in a group together because we all seem to be headed towards the same area. Duty free, right? And it gives us a chance to get to know each other a little better like the teachers said, you know? So do you guys all know each other or?" the pink-Jaemin rambled.

"Well...um hello to you all. I'm Donghyuck, this is my best friend Renjun and this is Chenle and Jisung who are also best friends and but who we only just met. But yeah, we're heading towards duty free so feel free to join us," he replied. The other three followed up with greetings to the new arrivals.

They began to walk towards duty free again only this time Donghyuck had ended up walking with Mark because Renjun had been dragged into a conversation with Jaemin and Jeno, who had been making heart eyes at him for the entirety of their previous interaction. That previous interaction being the 'hi' Renjun had said to them but they seemed, for lack of a better word: whipped. And that was putting it lightly.

Him and Mark exchanged brief conversation but they were both a tad awkward about it, not really knowing what to talk about. Their conversation (if you could call it that) topic hadn't drifted and had been centred around the trip itself and nothing else. Donghyuck couldn't lie, he wouldn't mind talking about something else but he worked with what he had.

Mark's hand brushed against Donghyuck's as they walked and he felt shivers down his spine but he chalked it up to nerves about flying. And then used that to strike up a conversation with Mark about his stance on flying.

"I'm a pretty decent flier actually. I have family back in Canada so I'm used to long haul flights but I totally get your fears. My older brother is such a bad flier, he makes me hold his hand every time and I swear he made me lose circulation last time, he's actually on this trip but his boyfriend is with him so maybe he can hold his hand instead. God I hope so," Mark explained. Donghyuck listened attentively, hanging onto every word.

"Oh, which ones are they?" Donghyuck inquired.

"Taeyong and his boyfriend is Jaehyun. Taeyong is the one with the bright green hair, which for the record, I have no idea how he's getting away with it but the staff love him so that's probably why and Jaehyun is the one with the light brown hair next to him or near him at almost any given moment," Mark answered, whilst chuckling at his final addition, alluding to the idea that his brother's boyfriend was clingy.

(Donghyuck couldn't blame him, he would be clingy too if he had a boyfriend like that. Taeyong was _hot_ and that was a fact).

The pair continued to make small talk and as the group walked around duty free, Donghyuck also got a chance to talk to others in their little group. He discovered that Chenle also had a brother on this trip (Kun) who was friends with Renjun's older brother, also on the trip (Sicheng).

Donghyuck had known who Mark was prior to the exchange and had always looked up to him in a strange sort of way. Somewhat jealous and a tad envious but mostly just curious.

Because from an outsider's perspective, Mark lived an idyllic life. A perfect life. Perfect grades. Perfect friends. Perfect hair. Donghyuck was jealous and he couldn't deny that but he'd always been slightly intimidated by the other. Only slightly but still, Mark seemed to have it all.

Donghyuck's life wasn't bad in comparison, he got good grades, had friends who he loved dearly and his hair (for the most part) satisfied him and was one of his best physical features. But there was something about Mark Lee, that was unattainable to anyone else.

The Mark Lee Charm, as Donghyuck had coined it, way back when he first encountered Mark for the first time in his first year of high school. Donghyuck had spent the following years trying to figure out what exactly made Mark so damn likeable but he'd never been able to put his finger on it. He thought that perhaps over the next two weeks he would finally be able figure it out.

The seven boys ambled on through duty free without buying anything for half an hour before going to grab breakfast at a nearby cafe. All seven ordered coffees of varying strengths and Chenle and Jisung bought a muffin each (despite then feeding their own to the other). They sat in the cafe for about an hour, only to then left early for the meeting point because the barista had been giving them dirty looks as they were taking up too much space for people who weren't buying anything else.

By the time they had walked back to the meeting point, Donghyuck figured he'd be alright for the remainder of the trip because despite his fears, these boys were so nice. Renjun may of been snatched away by Jaemin and Jeno but Chenle and Jisung were fantastic conversationalists (even if the topics did get a little weird. Who knew you could talk about the rate of a dolphin's heart for so long?).

Then there was Mark. Mark was kind and sweet and constantly looking out for the rest of them. He'd only known this group of boys for a little under two hours but he was already acting as their unofficial leader but he wasn't trying to assert any kind of dominance over the rest (Donghyuck had greatly appreciated that), he was just a natural leader.

Mark had even listened and worked out a solution when the youngest of the group Chenle and Jisung began to complain about the air, of all things, (apparently it was too minty which Mark had promptly fixed by relocating them to a section of the airport, about 5 feet to the left, the duo had thanked him profusely for it, which Donghyuck didn't understand but went with anyway).

A little while after, the entire group of twenty boarded the plane and took their seats. Donghyuck had ended up sat in the window seat with Jaemin and Jisung whilst Renjun had been sat in between Jeno (much to Jeno's delight) and Chenle. Mark, however, much to his own annoyance, had been sat in between Taeyong and Jaehyun.

Mark looked up and glanced over at Donghyuck, with a look of help me in his eyes. Donghyuck smirked and raised his arms in an 'oh well' type gesture, following it up with two thumbs up. The other responsed with a sigh and deadpan expression. He turned in his seat to face his brother and Donghyuck overheard him begging to swap seats. Unsurprisingly, his brother agreed and Donghyuck watched as they tried to manoeuvre the switch in the least awkward way possible.

That failed and Mark tripped in the aisle. Face first, with his limbs flying. A good chunk of the boys sniggered and Mark just sighed again before getting back up and sitting in his new seat, now on the aisle.

The flight passed by relatively quickly (as quickly as an eleven hour flight can go), with Donghyuck only gripping tightly onto both Jaemin and Jisung's hands during take off and landing, much to both the boys' mild annoyance. Their hands had both gone white and had nails marks embedded into their skin (which Donghyuck profusely apologised for).

The trio watched films simultaneously whilst giving an endless amount of running commentary. This almost resulted in them pissing off all the people surrounding them but luckily the majority were from their school. So instead their senior students laughed and cooed at how cute they apparently were. Donghyuck would consider himself a fool before he disagreed. Who was he to disregard a compliment, especially from his senior?

By the end of the flight, Donghyuck considered himself considerably closer to the two other boys and he was excited to spend the rest of the trip getting to know them better along with their respective friends.

Jisung had told countless stories of all the antics him and Chenle had gotten up to (including one story about how the two of them ended up sneaking into a bar which they were somehow under the impression was a cat cafe (needless to say they got out of there pretty quick)).

Jaemin on the other hand, had told the pair about all the strange quirks Jeno and Mark had displayed in their time being friends as well as a retelling of a number of encounters where him and Jeno had almost ended up in jail, where Mark had to come and save their sorry asses every time. Donghyuck could only wish his friendship with Renjun was anywhere near as exciting.

In turn, he told the pair about his and Renjun's bi-weekly movie nights and accompanying sleepovers. Which in contrast, seemed boring but the duo had hung onto his every word (he had included the prank call disaster of 2015 in his stories so maybe they had thought that was interesting even if they were faking the rest of their reactions). Maybe they were just decent people.

 

_1 p.m. BST 14th June 2018_

Upon stepping off the plane, Donghyuck immediately noticed the difference in temperature. Despite being the middle of June, it was significantly cooler. Not cold, but his hoodie was definitely needed. He would have to remind Renjun to remember to bring his on days out but he had a feeling a certain duo were already going to have that covered.

He didn't get the chance to meet back up with Renjun until after baggage claim because up until that point the other had seemed very occupied in a conversation with Jaemin and Jeno again. Donghyuck didn't mind though and had busied himself conversing with Mark and the Chensung (as he had taken to nicknaming the duo because honestly they were a package deal and one entity at this point and very unlikely to be apart).

As soon as they had gotten off the plane, Chenle had ran towards Jisung and wrapped his arms around the blonde boy in a tight bone crushing hug. They'd only been 'separated' for twelve hours but apparently that was too long for either of them as they had broke down crying in each others' arms. Or more so, Chenle had teared up and that had set Jisung off until they were both hysterically sobbing, only to be snickering about something two minutes later. Donghyuck was confused, to say the least.

Mark had made a concerned expression at Donghyuck as the two watched the interaction but he had only shrugged in return because honestly he had no idea what else to make of the situation. It just seemed so Chenle and Jisung, for lack of better words. He suspected this was only the start of it and that the rest of the trip would be indescribable in comparison. Mark agreed with him, when he told him his thoughts as they were waiting outside for the bus to take them to their hotel.

It wasn't that late at this point in the day, just nearing 3 p.m, as the journey to the hotel was long. The five of them had taken the back row of the bus whilst Chensung had sat in the duo seat in front. Donghyuck had leaped for the window seat once he had finished walking down the aisle of the bus because there was no way he was going to be sat in between Norenmin (as he had nicknamed the trio because even just saying the names individually in his head was a lot of work). Mark had had a similar idea and had sat down next to him.

"If I was sat in between them I think I would of ended up with someone on my lap and not because they like me but because they're only trying to get closer to the others," Mark had commented and Donghyuck couldn't help but agree. The boy made a solid point.

Norenmin had become relatively inseparable in a very short span of time. Although Renjun at first glance, seemed not as into it as the other two, Donghyuck knew his best friend. Renjun was loving the attention as much as Donghyuck knew he would deny it later in their hotel room. Renjun was unnervingly transparent at times and this was one of those times.

At around 3 p.m when they had finally gotten to the hotel, the group were told their room numbers and swiftly found them with ease. With the exception of two of the older students (Sicheng and Yuta?) who had accidentally walked into the sauna, thinking it was their room. They were told to unpack during the couple hours of down time they were given before they were to leave to go to a nearby restaurant for dinner.

Somehow this had resulted in, all seven boys ending up in Renjun and Donghyuck's room, despite Mark, Jaemin, and Jeno having the biggest room, seeing as there were three of them in one room, they even had a double bed, which he figured Jaemin and Jeno would be sharing. He felt sympathetic towards Mark once he realised that and contorted his face in an attempted look of empathy towards him.

Regardless, Donghyuck was so confused about how they'd gotten away with that. There were eighteen boys in total so that meant there could be a even number of people in each room. He suspected it was a joint effort though as some of the older students also wanted to be in a trio. He was almost certain it was Jungwoo, Lucas, and Kun but he would have to check to be sure.

The seven settled themselves somewhat comfortably onto the two single beds, which proved to be a bit of a struggle (and certainly a bond forming activity) to watch a film. Norenmin had taken up the entirety of Renjun's bed which left the remaining four of them to squeeze onto Donghyuck's bed. The three of them seemed to be very snug on Renjun's bed, curled up against one another, tucked under the cover. Nice and warm.

Chenle and Jisung had tucked themselves under the duvet of his bed and he couldn't even find himself getting annoyed because the pair were just adorable. There was no denying it.

He watched as Jisung pushed Chenle's mint coloured hair out of his eyes so that he would be able to see better when they actually did choose a film. Donghyuck, personally, thought it was just an excuse of Jisung's to touch Chenle's hair and this suspicion was almost confirmed by the soft smile the two shared with each other, only seconds later.

And as cute as the pair was, this left him and Mark perched on the end of his bed, trying hard to actually stay on. Donghyuck felt himself slipping and despite it being barely a foot to the floor, Mark had reached out and grabbed him carefully to ensure that he wouldn't fall off. His cheeks began to turn crimson as he mumbled out a pathetic attempt at a thanks and as he glanced over to where Norenmin had taken up residence, he saw Renjun smirk at him. As much as he could read Renjun like a book, Renjun could, just as easily, see right through his bullshit.

Mark flipped through the channels (seeing as he was the only one of the seven who spoke fluent English) in hopes of finding something in Korean, which was a lost cause right from the start but they had managed to find something with Korean subtitles so they settled with that. The movie, Frozen, was one Donghyuck had seen countless times and thought was ridiculously unseasonably appropriate but he still watched just as observantly, only to cry when Hans was revealed as the villain.

Luckily, before the others could realise he had teared up at the revelation, there was a knock on the door and Donghyuck shot up to answer it. He opened the door and two of the senior boys from the trip were standing there, both with black hair.

"Hey, I'm Johnny and this is Ten."

"Hey," Ten interjected.

"We're just here to remind you that you guys should probably start getting ready to leave because we're leaving in like five minutes," the taller of the two had continued, while smiling kindly. Ten grinned. The pair seemed nice.

"Oh okay, thanks for telling us then. We would of probably got through at least one more film before realising," Donghyuck replied to the pair before turning his head over his shoulder, "Guys! Turn the movie off and the five of you who's room this _isn't_ need to go back to your rooms and get ready because we're leaving in like five minutes," he continued.

The older pair chuckled at his comments before dismissing themselves to go remind the remaining group members. Donghyuck could of sworn that he heard Johnny mutter to Ten something about _adopting that child_ but he thought nothing of it.

Four of the seven boys scrambled up from under the covers, Mark just calmly stood up from where he'd been carefully sat so as not to fall off. The five quickly left the room to go get their stuff but Donghyuck could of swore he watched both Jaemin and Jeno kiss Renjun's cheeks before exiting. Followed out the exit soon after by Mark and then Chensung (who had even attempted to remake his bed sheets). As soon as the door shut he started to interrogate the poor Renjun.

"What the fuck was that?" Donghyuck started gently.

"What do you 'what the fuck'?" Renjun replied just as gently.

"No kisses until the third date my ass is what I mean!"

"Okay, just listen. They're so fucking sweet to me and they're kind and nice and they're also pretty hot, not gonna lie. They're just like such good people. They just make me feel really goof so if they wanna kiss my cheeks, what am I gonna do say no? Like I know my policy but this is different. They're different. I've only known them twenty four hours but if anything happened to them I would kill everyone in this room and then myself," Renjun responded earnestly.

"Well alright then but if they hurt you I will kill them...wait did you just quote Brooklyn Nine Nine in that 'speech'?" Donghyuck acted out air quotes with his fingers as he said the final word.

"I'm surprised it took you that long to notice but yes. Anyway can we just leave it as this unless you want me to interrogate you about Mark?" Renjun retaliated, again seeming very smug with himself.

"Yep! Yep, we can leave it at that. Please," he had attempted to say as he felt his cheeks turning crimson again. This was so unlike him. Donghyuck was usually confident but this trip was completely ruining that for him.

 

_5 p.m. BST 14th June 2018_

The two left for dinner very shortly after and the dinner went well. They'd eaten in a local pizza restaurant and the food was really good. The restaurant had somehow managed to accommodate a table for all twenty of them so they sat in one long line of ten on either side.

He'd been sat next to Taeyong and opposite Jungwoo, so although he didn't know them well, he used it as an opportunity to get the know the older two a bit better (he also used it as opportunity to get embarrassing information about Mark from Taeyong because at the end of the day, he was only human).

Donghyuck found himself really enjoying the dinner and finding the senior student pair really funny (despite what Mark may of told him about his brother earlier in the day, about how his brother wasn't funny At All but Donghyuck was willing to beg to differ). Taeyong had even told him about a time when Mark was five and Taeyong went out to the garden for two minutes only to come back to find Mark sitting in a pile of his own food, completely covered from head to toe because he'd heard their mom mention homemade facials offhandedly and wanted to try one but didn't know how they worked.

The bright green haired boy had even pulled up the photo on his phone and in between hysterical laughter, Donghyuck had choked out a comment about Mark being adorable.

Jungwoo also had some stories to tell about Mark because his best friend, Lucas, was close friends with Mark. This included a list of stories of but not limited to: a story involving a supposedly drunk cat, a story involving an actual drunk Mark, a story about a psychic fish, and a story about the time Mark thought he could be an artist after drawing Lucas in a dream and renaming himself Picasso. Donghyuck found himself in hysterics by the end of every story and holding onto Jungwoo's every word, in hopes of hearing something else about Mark that he could use as blackmail.

 _This trip is going to work out just fine_ , Donghyuck thought to himself as he walked back to the hotel, falling into step with Renjun who had 'escaped' the heart-eyed duo, on one side and Mark on his other.


	2. day one

_8 a.m. BST June 15th 2018_

Blinding light seared through the window and into the hotel room, awaking a perfectly sleeping Donghyuck. The boy opened his eyes blearily, blinking slowly, trying to come to his senses. He yawned widely.

Renjun was perched on the windowsill and Donghyuck had to assume that he'd been the one to open the curtains, unless any of the other boys had somehow gotten in during the night (which he thought was unlikely but definitely possible, especially with this group).

"The wifi's really shitty but it seems to work a bit better over here," Renjun answered the question Donghyuck had yet to even ask. He gave the other a nod of acknowledgement in lieu of a verbal response before rolling out of bed to get into the shower.

Although he was typically an evening washer, the pair had worked out that they had a very limited amount of time to shower if they both wanted to sleep in as long as possible. So, Donghyuck had agreed to be the bigger person and take the morning shift, leaving Renjun with the ideal time slot.

He took a quick (and freezing cold) shower and quickly got changed in the bathroom into slightly worn jeans and an oversized hoodie.

His goal was comfort; plans for the day were to visit the London Eye and Aquarium, which Donghyuck was particularly looking forward to. He didn't hate heights just flying made him uncomfortable so he was genuinely looking forward to the London Eye and who doesn't like to look at sea creatures. They're way more interesting than land creatures, for the most part at least.

The pair left the room soon after Donghyuck finished his shower and went to collect the other five on the way to breakfast. Chensung, they met at the elevator and they picked up Mark, Jeno, and Jaemin from the floor below on their way down. Without hesitation, Norenmin had reformed their trio, leaving Donghyuck with Mark once again as Chenle and Jisung seemed to be in an intense discussion about breeds of caterpillar.

Donghyuck raised an eyebrow at Mark, in an attempt to convey something along the lines of ' _can you believe these guys'_ and he was only half sure Mark understood what he said but he still smirked in response.

"How'd you sleep?" Mark asked in an effort to fill the silence in their section of the elevator but before Donghyuck could answer the elevator doors opened with several other, slightly dishevelled, members of the group on the other side. The elevator already had seven people inside and three more seemed to be a squeeze but they made it work at borderline capacity.

"Hi, I don't believe we've formally introduced ourselves yet, I'm Taeil," the apparent eldest of the trio said, while holding his hand to his chest. Donghyuck couldn't be entirely sure if he was actually the eldest but the man gave off those vibes, for sure.

"Hi, I'm Yuta," the second introduced himself as whilst grinning. He had a bright smile, one of those infectious ones that made everyone around him want to smile too.

"And I'm Sicheng. It's nice to meet you guys, except for Renjun of course because I'm sure he's mentioned by now that I'm his brother. Oh and I guess you too Hyuck because you're at our house pretty much every other day. But yeah, it's nice to meet the rest of you."

The seven rattled off greetings and their names and by the time they were done the elevator had reached the bottom. Donghyuck was almost certain he'd met everyone now but there were eighteen students so there was a chance he was missing one or two.

The seven grabbed a three seater sofa in the lobby and hastily tried to pile everyone on. Chenle sat in one corner with Jisung on his lap, Renjun and Jaemin were sat in a similar position whilst Jeno perched on the armrest. Mark had attempted to squeeze himself onto the sofa but failed and resided to the floor between their legs with Donghyuck accompanying him.

The remaining eleven students let the youngest of the group remain in their prime seats while they tried to seat themselves into two armchairs and a footrest. Six students ended up accompanying the duo on the floor and the teachers didn't even bother trying to sit down, choosing instead to stand off to the side of the left armchair, nearest the entrance.

"Okay, so as I hope most of you are aware today's plans are the London Eye and London Aquarium and they both sound incredibly exciting so we'll soon be departing. If you are afraid of heights, don't worry so I am, so I'll be taking those students to look at the Thames whilst the others ride the Eye. Sound good? Okay, let's get going then," Miss Jung explained.

"We'll be eating breakfast on the bus and lunch will be McDonald's, so look forward to that as well," Mr Kim followed on with a smile.

"Didn't know the school was that broke," Donghyuck muttered to himself.

"What was that Mr Lee?"

"Nothing Sir."

Mark chuckled.

The group of twenty made their way outside and onto the minibus. Norenmin and Chensung took the five back seats whilst Mark and Donghyuck resided in the two seater in front. Donghyuck was beginning to get slightly annoyed at the lack of decent seats for him and Mark.

"Hey," Donghyuck whispered.

"Yeah?"

"You know how they keep taking all the good seats, I say we race them next time and steal them right out from under their dainty, little fingertips, what do you think?"

"I'm cool with that...but I feel like we can't steal them from Jisung and Chenle, they're too young and cute," Mark replied. "I feel like their dad and I've only known them one day," he followed on with.

"I one hundred percent agree to everything you just said. So yeah, let's only steal them from the hell spawn trio." Donghyuck eyes glinted.

"Isn't Renjun your best friend?" Mark questioned, curiously looking at him.

"Not the point Mark Lee. Not the point."

 

_9:17 a.m BST 15th June 2018_

Donghyuck breathed in the air deeply, thinking to himself, 'oh my God, I'm in fucking _London_ '. He took in the sights. The bustling streets, the warm air, the smell of excitement. A smile he couldn't control took over his face.

Then he looked over to where he could see the Thames only to quickly look away so it couldn't ruin his enlightening experience. Jesus fuck, that river was disgusting. He could _not_ understand the tourist appeal.

"Okay boys, listen up. Pair up, don't lose one another but if you do, you have our mobile numbers and hopefully some of each other's. Now follow me and Miss Jung will follow from behind," Mr Kim said.

Donghyuck once again paired up with Mark because Renjun was God knows where. He wasn't complaining though.

The duo walked briskly down the pavement in an effort to keep up with Mr Kim, who may as well be running a marathon, the way he was treating this. Donghyuck made a comment about it to Mark who chuckled and his heart warmed at the response.

He'd only properly known Mark a day but if anything were to happen to him, he didn't know what'd he do.

They'd developed quite a bond in the last twenty four hours. After being constantly forced together at every and any possible opportunity, it was a miracle they had anything left to talk about.

Despite all the conversation about the London Eye, first on the agenda was the aquarium. Not a particularly grand building but the group was excited nonetheless. There was something about exotic fishes and mildly dangerous sharks that just brought people together.

They queued up and while in line they got into groups of six. As a bonding exercise, the teachers had picked the groups so that they could all get to know each other a little better.

Donghyuck ended up in a group with Chenle (who had cried until the teachers swapped Jaehyun, somewhat willingly, with Jisung) as well as Kun, Doyoung, and Ten. The teachers weren't kidding about getting to know each other better (they were very serious about this agenda and were trying to enforce it non stop) and he knew he couldn't just stick to talking Chenle and Jisung. He had to branch out - overcome his nerves.

Doyoung and Kun had taken charge of the group, acting as stand in parents. Doyoung hugged Chenle as he cried over Jisung, comforting him even though his literal brother was right there. Donghyuck didn't even try to comfort Chenle because he could see him smiling when Doyoung looked away.

Kun was still a fucking godsend though, despite not helping his brother (it was likely he was wise to Chenle's antics). He'd noticed that Donghyuck was nervous and shared a silly anecdote to break the ice. They'd both laughed about it and Donghyuck immediately felt a lot more at ease.

Ten injected himself into the conversation they found themselves having (about one of the quite peculiar teachers their school had to offer) and before any of them knew it, they were laughing away like the six of them had known each other for years.

There really is just something about school trips in foreign countries that brings people together like nothing else ever does, no matter the length of the trip or the age of the students.

Whilst this was going on Norenmin (along with Mark) had somehow managed to remain in a group together and were seemingly very smug about it. He gave Renjun a pathetic glare as a reply to his sly smile.

After waiting in line for what seemed like forever but was probably no more than an hour, they reached the front and were let into the aquarium. Blue lights adorned every surface and Donghyuck's jaw fell slack in amazement.

It was only an aquarium but he was so captivated by everything in London, it might as well of been the Queen of England herself. He couldn't help but smile at every possible chance.

The subgroups were allowed to split up from the main group as long as they all stayed together. In addition to an agreement to meet up at the gift shop at one o'clock.

Kun and Doyoung set off like they were on a mission to save the world and the remaining four trailed behind, desperately trying to match their pace. Chenle shared snacks with Jisung that he had seemingly retrieved from nowhere (he didn't even have a bag) and didn't offer to share with the rest of them. Kun still stole one from himself and also Donghyuck because apparently he now had a soft spot for him (but he most definitely wasn't complaining).

Firstly, the Shark Walk. A pathway with a long glass viewing panel so visitors could look at one of the aquarium's displays from a whole new angle. Donghyuck was intrigued and snapped a few photos of the colourful fish, inches below his feet. He even managed to contort his body in a way that he could take a picture with a smallish shark swimming by, without even having to lay down flat on the glass.

Meanwhile, Jisung comforted a scared Chenle over how close the sharks were, reassuring him with comments about how he'd fight any of them if they tried to hurt him (his more realistic approach: he offered Chenle the snacks that he had taken to share with him in the first place). Ten joined Donghyuck in his portrait adventures and the makeshift parents took artistic photos for their Instagrams'.

Secondly, the Atlantic Coasts section which was mildly less interesting, followed by the Ray Lagoon. Donghyuck thought the octopus was somewhat majestic and despite the fishes being different to those in Korea, it lacked the wow factor that the Shark Walk had accomplished.

Much to his delight, the Rockpool was the follow up act. Himself, Chenle, and Jisung enjoyed themselves thoroughly stroking the starfish and sea anemones. They tickled and the elder trio chuckled whilst they shivered.

He took several more photos, to send to his mum; she'd always been particularly fond of the beach and sea life (she was also super jealous of this part of the trip, even offered herself up as a parent supervisor just for a chance to visit the aquarium).

Up next, the Ocean Tunnel. Similarly to the Shark Walk, it was also entirely glass panelled but now visitors could see the aquatic creatures from almost any direction except beneath them. Donghyuck was even more mesmerised than he was before. The Ocean Tunnel didn't just need photos but it deserved a whole time lapse.

Shimmering scales swam past overheard and he only just saw them out of the corner of his eye before another shoal appeared from the left like they'd been awaiting their turn for the camera. A glimpse of green glided into his peripheral vision, slowly enough for him to capture the turtles on film.

The youngest duo had their faces pushed up against the glass, ever so sanitarily and he could already see Kun and Doyoung reaching for hand sanitiser from their own bags.

His phone buzzed. A text, from Renjun: 'come get ur man', accompanied with a photo of a Mark cooing at a baby penguin from an exhibit up ahead. His heart grew three sizes and a wide grin overtook his face. He texted back a variant of shut up, imagining the look on Renjun's face, who definitely knew he was blushing.

"What you looking at there?" Kun inquired.

"Nothing," he hastily replied. Kun gave him a knowing smile but he said nothing more. Donghyuck couldn't be more grateful. He had only properly known Mark a day or so, there was no possible way he could like him. Not after last time.

His mind began to race with thoughts and suddenly the tunnel was beginning to feel claustrophobic. His heart had begun to feel like it was beating out of his chest and his breathing quickened. Kun pulled him aside and guided his breathing and gave him a warm (almost parental) hug. The others looked over with concern but he waved them off and told Kun it was just general nerves. He definitely didn't buy it but he didn't bring it up as they exited the tunnel.

They were nearing the end of the aquarium and only had half an hour left to spare so they sped through the Seahorse Kingdom and arrived swiftly at the final section, Rainforest Adventure.

(They had decided as a group to skip the penguins due to some unbeknownst childhood trauma Chenle claimed to have experienced with one. Besides, crocodiles were way cooler).

It was more humid in this section and Donghyuck could feel his palms beginning to become clammy. He wouldn't be upset if they went quickly through this section.

He glanced over at the cave fish and piranhas but the crocodiles were the real star of the show. Their sharp teeth glinted against the lights and sent shivers down his spine but he still took photos because they were pretty fucking cool.

Chensung were taking pictures with the...frogs? Of course they were. And the other three were in a somewhat intense discussion with one of the employees about the lifespan of said frogs (as if there wasn’t even a little bit of a language barrier). Donghyuck tapped Ten on the shoulder to show him the time on his phone.

"Alright gang, let's get moving then, shall we," Ten exclaimed.

"Say that again and the only thing moving will be your internal organs out from inside of of you," Doyoung retorted. The four of them all snorted.

"Thanks for the support honey," Ten replied sarcastically and grinned as he led the group to the gift shop through the exit door.

The gift shop was filled with sea creature plushies and various other memorabilia. He watched as Chensung ran towards the dolphins, picked out the largest one, headed straight for the cashier and chuckled to himself.

Various other momentums took to his liking. He picked up a magnet and several postcards for his mum as well as a cup (one of those ones with the fancy straws that encircle the cup) with the aquarium logo plastered on its side for himself and followed the youngsters to pay.

Other students came in through the doors not long after along with the two teachers until eventually all twenty were gathered in the gift shop. The staff were beginning to give them annoyed looks as they were sort of crowding the gift shop, the kind that said ' _if you're not paying then leave'._ Mr Kim was quick to usher them all out.

 

_1:47 p.m BST June 15th 2018_

Later in McDonald's Donghyuck was once again reunited with Mark and the rest of their self-made group. Norenmin were squished into a booth together whilst the remaining four had pulled over seats so that the table could seat seven instead of just acquiring a bigger table.

They had ordered three boxes of twenty nuggets between them but this meant they had fought over how many they each got, until they caved and bought a fourth. Other students had ordered salads (and a few burgers); the group looked at them with disgust.

"Who comes to McDonald's and orders a salad? It's ridiculous. You wouldn't go to a vegan restaurant and order chicken nuggets?" Donghyuck exclaimed. A couple of the others threw their hands up in agreement and added their own comments.

"You seem seriously passionate about this," Mark added, after chuckling at Donghyuck's exclamation.

"That's just Donghyuck. He's passionate about anuthing and everything he cares about; it's one of his best qualities," Renjun said before he could get a word in.

"I want to believe you're complimenting me but knowing you, there's a high chance that's sarcastic."

"Partially." Renjun smirked. Both Jaemin and Jeno were quick to take a photo, followed by a couple (throuple?) photo.

"But um yeah, I guess I am quite passionate. I just care about a lot of things and I care about those things a lot, if you know what I mean."

"Yeah no, I get that one hundred percent. You gotta care about things: friends, family, hobbies, other things too. Otherwise, what's the point in living. Life is for living and you can't do that without things that make you happy. You gotta love hard and care hard to make an impact," Mark rambled, eyes focused on him the entire time.

"Woah. That got real deep," Jisung cut across.

"Shut up Jisung, they're having a moment." Chenle shoved his hand over the other's mouth.

Their conversation was background noise to his ears because now Mark and Donghyuck had locked eyes and wow. Up close the light shines off them ever so prettily (even if they are McDonald's beams) and he felt like he could stare into those deep coconut pools forever or at least a very long time. "I completely agree."

"Do you guys want us to leave or something?" Jaemin interrupted and Donghyuck snapped out of it. He turned back towards the others and sat up straighter, not daring to even look at Mark for fear of blushing. He could already feel his cheeks growing warmer.

"I think we're about to leave anyway. Look, some of the other guys are already beginning to get up and leave." One of the boys added, Donghyuck was too unfocused to know which one.

His mind was drifting and his thoughts felt like cotton. Tangible but not well developed enough to pluck out and dispose of without damage. He felt like he was floating as he followed the rest of the boys through the doors, not aware enough to know what was going on.

The group walked in the direction of the London Eye and Donghyuck let his feet carry him, still in a somewhat daze. Before he knew it they were queuing up and four students had gone off with Miss Jung (Taeyong, Sicheng, Chenle, and Jisung, who wasn't even scared of heights, just extremely loyal to Chenle).

"So what's your opinion on it?" Mark asked, startling Donghyuck out of his daydream.

"Uh-um. Sorry I zoned out. What was that again?"

"Your opinion on Brexit?" Mark smirked. Donghyuck stared at him in confusion. What the fuck was a Brexit?

"Bre-xit?" His look of confusion continued.

"It's about Britain leaving the European Union but I'm just kidding. I actually asked you what your favourite film is. You seem kind of dazed so I thought if you talked about something you're passionate about you might snap out of it."

Goddamn Mark and his compassionate caringness.

"If I say Shrek...are you going to disown me? Because honestly it's some damn fine cinematography and the plot is amazing," he half joked.

"No, that's completely valid and I understand why. The plot is damn near phenomenal and it teaches a good message, the soundtrack is otherworldly, and it's super funny," Mark elaborated, raising his eyebrows in a 'duh' like motion. Donghyuck nodded aggressively in agreement.

"You took the words right out my mouth Mark Lee." The two continued on about Shrek (and its sequels) until their grouped reached the front of the line and the fifteen of them piled into one capsule.

They was told ahead of time that the ride was thirty minutes long and that seemed an awfully long time to be stuck in a capsule.

The capsules weren't particularly large and were entirely clear so you could London from an almost 360° angle. Donghyuck figured it was spectacular at night but it didn’t seem too shabby during the day.

He snapped a few photos for himself before Norenmin forced him to take couple photos of them. _They weren't even a real couple,_ he couldn't help but think. He grimaced at Mark who sent a reassuring smile in return. Mark had a really nice smile. His cheeks felt warm and he turned away before Renjun could mock him.

As he was looking out he saw a singular couple in the next capsule. They were sipping champagne and roses adorned the bench nearby. It almost looked like a proposal. Donghyuck looked away and pointed out the cute couple to Mark and Norenmin.

"Oh my God that's so cute. Jeno you better take me on a date like th-oH MY GOD LOOK! HE'S PROPOSING!" Jaemin called out, alerting the entire group to the event. They all watched as the man got down on one knee and brought out a ring. He couldn't see very clearly from this far away but it still glinted in the sunlight. The woman obviously said yes and Donghyuck would be lying if he said he didn't shed a tear (but he also felt like a bit of an idiot for not realising that Jaemin and Jeno were actually dating).

They all clapped like they were part of a fake tumblr post but it was honestly worth it. The couple began to share a sweet kiss and they all looked away; they weren't creeps.

"Okay that was sweet and all but I've just had to listen to Jaehyun's romantic gushing about Taeyong because of it," Mark groaned. This time Donghyuck was the one to give him a reassuring smile.

"My condolences. That must of been so difficult for you, I can't imagine what you've gone through," he mocked.

"Shut up! It was disgusting, his whole 'I love him to the moon and back and then some' monologue. You think Jaehyun's bad, oh no - the pair of them are so dramatic, especially Taeyong and he's not even here," Mark complained, tutting away.

"You're just mad because they're in love and you're not. Jealousy is a disease, get well soon!" Donghyuck countered.

Mark chuckled before continuing. His smile fell and his brows furrowed. "And what if I am? Jealous, that is."

Well, that was a lot deeper than he was expecting.

"Then you are. It's not that deep." Donghyuck didn't know what else to say and they left it at that.

The five of them took a group photo (in addition to the ones the school took of them all). Several, actually. With all different poses: peace signs, silly faces, big smiles, the whole nine yards. And they were some pretty damn cute photos (even if the Jaemin and Jeno felt the need to squeeze Renjun's cheeks and then kiss them. He'd blushed so hard, you could probably see from Mars).

They met back up with Miss Jung and the other students afterwards and told Chensung all about the proposal they'd missed. They seemed disappointed at first but Miss Jung had also taken them to get ice cream while they waited so they were mostly content.

Give the duo a chocolate sundae and they'd be happy for days. They were disturbingly easy to please.

The seven rejoiced as they were reunited as a group and Mark took back on his role of honorary leader. Somehow, Donghyuck had become a co-captain of sorts as Norenmin were too wrapped up in one another (currently using an earphone splitter to share their favourite songs with one another) and Chensung were the babies of the lot (also sharing earphones).

In spite of his new found leadership, he had not forgotten his earlier agreement with Mark. As soon as they stepped on the bus they dashed to the backseats like overexcited children and secured their seatbelts before the remaining five could even make it halfway up the aisle. They stared, astonished, at what the pair had done and Chensung didn't even bother trying to fight Norenmin for the other three seats; they were an an unbeatable force after all. He only ended up feeling a little bad for depriving the youngest of their beloved prime seats.

Donghyuck held his hand up for a high five and maybe their fingers lingered a little too long against one another's. Renjun didn't say anything at the time but Donghyuck knew he had noticed and was awaiting the conversation later. Most likely in the early hours of the morning when they were still too excited to sleep and end up having a heart to heart. In an almost masochistic sort of way, he was looking forward to it, they hadn't had one in a while.

 

_12:02 a.m BST June 16th 2018_

They ate dinner together at the hotel and were too exhausted to hang out properly afterwards so they spent the best part of an hour just talking before residing to their own rooms. Donghyuck hugged Mark goodbye and Renjun had definitely noticed how they hands lingered on each other's backs for a tad too long, just like how their fingertips had earlier.

"So, have you admitted to yourself that you like Mark or are you repressing it?" Renjun started. Donghyuck sat straight up.

"I do not! We've barely known each other two days, that's not enough time for me to properly like someone," Donghyuck argued back. He sighed and shrunk back down in the bed.

"I get you're not me and as I said with Jaemin and Jeno it's different. I've been crushing on them for months, I'm just lucky they like me back. And I know you've admired Mark from afar for so long now. Those can't just be feelings of jealousy over his seemingly perfect life." Donghyuck didn't want to admit that Renjun might be right.

So he didn't.

"You're delusional Renjun. We're just friends who became close pretty quickly. It's how residential school trips work. This isn't a _him_ situation." He knew Renjun saw right through his lies but he'd be damned if he admitted it first time.

"I know that Hyuck. But Mark isn't him. Whatever, I'm going to sleep alright, so good night."

"Good night Injunnie." Donghyuck smirked.

"Don't call me that I'm mad at you." He could hear the smile in Renjun's words.

"No you're not." And with that, he fell into a deep, peaceful sleep.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for reading!! i actually started writing this way before wayv was announced but i am going to find some way to include ot21 if it kills me.
> 
> if you'd like u could leave a kudos or a comment, i greatly appreciate them!!
> 
> u can also follow me on twitter @halfseok uwu

**Author's Note:**

> tysm for reading the first chapter!! i wanted to wait until i had more of this written to post but i got excited bc this is actually rly strongly on a exchange trip i did last year and hyuck is kind of based on how i acted during that trip but with some major personality differences 
> 
> leave a comment and kudos if you would like to, they make me smile!! 
> 
> if you’d like, you can follow me on twitter @halfseok 
> 
> title taken from tessa violet’s crush


End file.
